About Me

Dr. Clyde Winters, has taught in the Chicago Public Schools for 36 years. He has taught Education and Linguistic Courses at Saint Xavier University-Chicago. As a teacher in the Chicago Public Schools Dr. Winters wrote State Standards in the 1990's for the Chicago Public School system and Common Core State Standards for Social Studies. He also wrote the 6th Grade World History Lesson Plans used in the CPS in 2000.

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

The history of Central Asia and Anatolia make it clear that Turkic and Kurd speaking people were late comers in the History of these areas. Prior to their migration into many parts of these areas Dravidian, Kushite (the Hattic, Mittanni, Kaska and etc. speaking groups) and Sumerian speaking people left numerous inscriptions in non-Turkic and European languages, as well as Egyptian and Hittite documents testifying to the absence of Turkic speaking nationalities inhabiting the area. All of these languages are genetically related to Tamil, like Sumerian and Elamite.

The history of the Turkish languages and the earlier presence of Sumerian and Tamil speaking people in Central Asia and Anatolia, explains any relationship you might find between Turkish and the Sumerian and Tamil languages. Moreover, the fact that the Greeks were in India when Panini wrote his grammar of Sanskrit, explains the Greek relationship with Sanskrit.; and the Elamite speaking Achaemenids (and Persians)also ruled India for years and thus placed Persian and Elamite Arya and Hindi Arya in intimate contact for hundreds of years.

The relationship between the Hindi and Iranian languages is best explained by history rather than some ancient Indo-Iranian group of languages.

Achaemenid records make it clear that by 559 BC, Persian speakers were ruling the Hindus. Given the fact that their is historical evidence of Persians ruling Hindus can explain the relationship between the speakers of these languages instead of the Indo-European hypothesis. These Persians also ruled the Greeks and the Dravidian speaking Lycians in Europe.

The Achaeminids spoke Persian and Elamite. Since they were rulers of the Indians would have been natural for the Hindus to adopt many Persian terms and vice versa during a period of bilingualism in North India. Since the Elamite and Dravidian speakers spoke genetic languages there was little need for a lingua franca to allow communication between the diverse groups under Achaeminid rule.

King Darius

King Darius (521-486) made it clear he was an Arya "nobleman". The first use of Arya had nothing to do with race. Darius , in an inscription at Naghsh-Rostam (near Shiraz in present-day Iran) noted that:

"I am Darius the great king, a Persian, son of a Persian, an Aryan, and having Aryan lineage."

Darius later conquered Macedonia. This led to Achaeminid people speaking Elamite and Persian may have contributed lexical items to ancient Ionian (Greek). Since we have historical evidence of a close relationship between Hindus and Persians by the 6th Century BC, there is no need to claim that the relationship between Indo-Iranian began in 1200 BC,when the historical evidence indicates interaction between these groups by 589 BC, not 1200 BC. As a result of the Persians living in Iran, up until the Achaeminid Empire, there is no way anyone can claim that the Indo-Iranian homeland was in India. There was no Indo-Iranian homeland, the relationship between these languages was probably the result of the Achaeminid rule of India.

The Persians also ruled the Greeks. The Greeks later conquered India, and Panini mentions Greeks in his grammar of Sanskrit. This suggest that Greeks lived in large numbers in India at this time.The fact that the Greeks, Hindus and Persians lived in intimate contact for hundreds of years naturally led to the adoption of many terms by the Greeks and Hindus of Persian, and later the adoption of many Greek terms by the Hindus. These states of bilingualism in North India, explains why the Indo-Iranian languages form one family , and are linked to the Indo-European languages via Greek.

The Harappans spoke a Dravidian language, Indo-Iranian probably originated after 589 BC. This is made clear by Darius in the Behistun inscription where he claims that he was the first to write in the Ariya language. Darius'- evidence for the first writing of Ariya, indicates that the idea of the continuity of Hindu civilization in India is a myth. The original inhabitants of India spoke Dravidian languages. Over time, the Dravidians were forced to adopt Hindi and other Indo-Iranian languages, yet remnants of these Dravidians in North India remain.

This is why we find no evidence of the Vedic language until the Naga (Ethiopians) invented Sanskrit. It also explains the variations in the Vedic and Avestan manuscripts, which in the case of the later group date back only to 1288 AD.

The tradition of writing in North India date to the Achaeminids, and may explain the origin of Brahmi. The fact that Brahmi has signs that relate to the Harappan writing may be the result of the fact that the Elamites of the Achaeminid Empire were familiar with the writing system of the Dravidians, and the Naga (Ethiopians) who used a system of writing similar to Phonesian.

The Dravidians have their own tradition of writing.It would appear that the Dravidians introduced writing to the Indus Valley. They continued to use this writing on their pottery in South India and later punchmarked coins. This is supported by the discovery of writing in South India dating back to before 600 BC.

The history of contact between Iranian and Indian speakers during Achaemenid rule , would explain the Indo-Iranian relationship, not the existence of a Proto-Indo-Iranian homeland in India. This history of Turkic, Persian, Sumerian, Elamite, Tamil, Ethiopic (/Naga)and Hindi speaking people living in diverse North Indian communities, is the most logical explanation of the relationships that exist between and among these languages. The history of linguistic contact between the speakers of these languages make it clear that the Harappans were not Indo-Aryanspeakers. This would place the origin of the major Vedic and Avestan text back to maybe 800 BC, and more than likely 600-500 BC not the 1200 BC or earlier date assigned these text by some researchers. Let's not forget that some researchers claim that most editions of the Avestan, date back to an original copy of this text dating only to 1200 AD.

In summary India was not the home land of the Indo-Iranian family of languages.The linguistic relationship between Persian and Greek result from the rule of these areas by the Achaeminid and later Greek rulers of India. This may explain why the Achaeminids depicted the Nubians (of Africa), the Hindus and King Darius with Africoid features.The ability to explain the relationship of Sanskrit to Greek, and the Indo-Iranian linguistic relationship due toPersian/ Elamite and Hindi contact, resulting from the historical connections between the speakers of these languages and bilingualism within North-India and Afganistan. This hypothesis supports the view that the Indo-European connection to Indian languages goes back to the Greek rule of India, not some hypothetical date millennia ago.